Garden fairy lights - on trend or naff?

I am in the habit of hiding tiny gnomes in the gardens of my DC. They don't know they are there, until they clip hedges or cut back bushes etc, so it's always a surprise to find them! They keep their colours because they are hidden most of the time, well, all of the time really!

My grown children have sussed my game but only because one has found a gnome. My GC now want to know if Granny has been gnome-planting. No one knows, until they are discovered.

Quite silly, I know, but I quite like the idea of a little character (they are small) having a secret home in the garden! Son had a laugh when he found his quite recently grinning up at him from a newly cleared patch. (It was hidden away again under a bush somewhere afterwards he tells me! I know they aren't everyone's cup of tea. All my tiny garden gnomes are hidden in our garden. The man hasn't come across any of them yet!)

In France this year the pergola we sat under each evening was decorated with twinkling solar lights. It looked lovely at dusk. I may invest in some for our garden.

We used to have two strings of solar fairy lights, white up one side of the garden and coloured up the other side. They were trailed artistically through the shrubbery. Unfortunately I snipped through the wire of the coloured strand with the shears while pruning, so now we have the white string along the bottom fence. Also 4 pillar lights on the wall behind the pond and an illuminated foxglove in a pot by the patio. Looks lovely when I go to bed.

This is in Buckingham palace gardens! Lifesize!

I love them. Did have three lots but unfortunately hubby managed to run the mower over one of the wires to the one and I was mortified. I am an insomniac and when I look out of my window at night and seem them twinkling away I somehow don't feel so alone.x

Yes I to have them draped along a fence and the individual ones in my containers they look really lovely at night.I think you will be pleased how nice they look. Definitely not naff.

Nelliemaggs of course, and a mouse

3 Buddhas - ranging from 5cm high to 25cm, one fountain, one ceramic frog, one 30cm fairy. And that's on my balcony! Just realised..... But I really would like a string of lights.....

My garden is full of naff, bit like my Christmas trees. Love it.

Jalima you must have a mummy owl too. At least some of the time.

Avoid strings of solar lights if you have squirrels in the area. 3 sets of mine lasted less than a week as blasted squirrels chewed through the wires!

We've got loads in our back garden and so has our next door neighbour!. Going over the summerhouse roof, over an arch, up a tree, thro some trellis plus multi coloured solar markers around the pond!! We love them especially when we are sitting out on a warm evening with a g&t !

I think that they can brighten up a dull corner.

I have lots or planted pots on patio with a solar light in each one. It looks lovely in the evening reflecting off pond.
We also have motion operated ones on fence on front garden since council started turning street lights off at midnight. More for security than effect.

I love lights - indoors and out. We're currently revamping the garden, so it's dreadfully bare at the moment, and I can't wait until I can put my lights back up. We also have a few woodland creatures - a fox, some rabbits and a hedgehog, as well as a dog and a couple of metal cats. My husband tells me that one day he'll come home with a sheep or cow. I think he's joking.....!!?

I have so many solar lights in my rather long back garden that it has been likened to a landing strip for the local airport.Love them all lit up at night.

This has to stop! I have now ordered one of these as well as the two original items.

I have loads of solar lights in my garden and after a sunny day they can still be shining until dawn!
I also have solar lights in my front (spare) bedroom window and in the kitchen!!

Oooo love that metal cat photo on page 1 and the risqué piggy! There is a big metal giraffe in a shop here, about 6ft tall, I love it, but it may be a step too far do you think?! Haha!

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We have solar fairy lights round the decking balustrade and also 6 solar light bulbs in our pine tree. They look exactly like old style bulbs but make the tree quite magical. Also love chainsaw carvings and have several toadstools and an eagle

That was weird, photos were not on first post but are there now!

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Photos didn't work, will try again.

I have two metal chickens (or are they cockerels - might be!) With a tiny solar light in them. Totally naff but I like them!

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Gillybob, an Ebay search brings up 328 flamingos in various designs. I fancy this one and the peacocks.

Naff ? Isn't that what people with little imagination say about lovely gardens with lights and fairies in? If it brings pleasure then it is wonderful.

Whitewave where did you buy your sleeping Puck?

I have fairies and GDs and an altar with my stuff on it and a stone Goddess with a huge belly (summer pose) and a deity cabinet from Gugerati with a stone Budda in that my neighour gave me ages ago........its not naff because we have fun with it all, AND the big bellies out there make me feel at home.

I have had my garden flattened to make it safer out there following a really bad fall and feel absolutely crushed now, I hate it, so old ladyish and looks like an old people's home.....wish I had left it as it was overflowing with life.....it was the work of last week's thinking and now I am so upset, serves me right. Love you garden.

I bought solar lights years ago but found that they only stayed 'alive' for around 40 minutes and gave off very poor light and that was after days of full sun.

Reading the posts here, it sounds as though they've improved. Can I ask roughly how long they stay in for?